Locomotive Spouting Violets
by spirithamburger
Summary: [Dive for dreams or a slogan may topple you] Number themed contest for various Kingdom Hearts characters. [Trees are their roots and wind is wind] Canon, crack, etc. [And live for love, though the stars walk backwards] For NaNoWriMo.
1. Chapter 1

Mmmkay, NaNoWriMo has given me a taste for the odd challenges. Namely drabbles. Because, with drabbles, you have a rounded amount of words (100-600) and it's easier to count. So I gave myself a new challenge!

It's a themes contest, of a sort, with a list of thirty that I compiled from about seven different sources. It's called the Numbers Theme. Basically what you do is assign nine or ten characters a number, 0-9. Then you generate a series of numbers by some random magical way (I just banged on my keyboard with my eyes closed. :D) and pair em up. Then you take the characters assigned to each pair of number, see which theme they correspond with, and write a drabble!

Example: My list of numbers starts with 83. Olette is number 8 and Goofy is number 3. The first theme is Beginnings. Therefore, I wrote a drabble, about Goofy and Olette (not necessarily shippy, though it can certainly be taken that way) with the theme 'Beginnings'.

And so on and so forth! I have ten characters (which ones, you shall soon discover. :D) and they're pretty much paired up all over the place. AND mostly because of this challenge and the similar one I'm doing for my OC's in my novel, I'm up to 16,500 words!

Woot.

Disclaimer: I own naught!

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**Beginnings – Goofy, Olette**

Things are constant in Twilight Town. It's always almost-sunset, the ice cream is always blue, Seifer and his gang are always making trouble, there's always some school project and, of course, it's always those three – Hayner, Pence, Olette (no more, no less).

The idea of change is puzzling, confusing and, if Olette's completely honest – frightening. Somehow, strangely, the idea of some part of her world changing (disappearing?) absolutely terrifies her. She isn't sure why she's so scared, but she is.

And that's why she suddenly blurts out, while waiting with Goofy for Sora and Hayner to finish talking about whatever, "Don't you get tired of having to start over all the time?"

She's immediately embarrassed, starting to fumble an apology (even though she _wants_ to know, because how can he handle that much change?) but his answer surprises her. "Well," the dog-man-thing (she doesn't even know) says thoughtfully, "Not really. Cause, y'know, it isn't like we've gotta end everythin' when we leave somewhere. We just begin somethin' new!"

Giving her a dreamy, dopey half-smile that she's almost certain hides something much deeper, Goofy concludes, "And a lotta new beginnin's can be kinda fun!"

That gives Olette something to think about.

---

**Rebirth – Aerith, Goofy**

Aerith has dreams. In her dreams she's somewhere else, among different companions (but she doesn't wonder where her's are, doesn't ask 'Yuffie, Leon, Cid?', doesn't even seem to know), in a new city (but she doesn't compare it to Hollow Bastion) with a new name (but she doesn't fail to respond to it, with it's softer ending and gentler sound). In her dreams she's someone new, someone destined a cause higher than anything her girlish mind can imagine. In her dreams, Aerith folds her hands and smiles sweetly.

And in her dreams, Aerith dies.

She tries not to think about them, hiding them deep inside, hiding the fear and confusion and dread, until, one day they overflow to the most unlikely person imaginable.

And Aerith learns she isn't the only dreamer. In between loud gulps of lemonade, the knight, the silly-faced, drawling-voiced, simple Goofy talks about his own dreams (which are stranger than hers, where he's in symphonies and he's Pete's friend and, most peculiar of all, he has a son!) and those of other people, here and there, even Donald, though the duck doesn't talk about his.

"I kinda think of it like a different life." Goofy says without a hint of the worry the flower girl feels. "Y'know, like we had those there lives, and then we needed to do somethin' else, so we got a different one."

"Rebirthing." Aerith says softly, understanding. Goofy nods and smiles and, for the first time in a while, Aerith smiles back.

---

**Taste – Axel, Olette**

Synthetic world, with it's plastic characters and two dimensional scenery. Fake universe with it's frozen sky and trains to nowhere. Madman's playhouse with it's mindless games and make-believe adventures.

Twilight Town, with it's wide-eyed little girls and disgusting blue ice cream.

"No, I don't want any and how can you even eat that stuff?" he says.

"It's delicious! Are you sure you don't want a taste?" she replies, so innocent she burns like he does and he wonders what the real her is like, and if she's much different than the illusion standing before him, holding out the sea-salt ice-cream.

"Positive." He says flatly, deciding he's had enough, ready to leave and return later, when the person he came for isn't surrounded by his imaginary friends and their sugar-salt confections, ready to do whatever it takes to get her to leave him be.

But she just smiles and returns to licking and she leaves him, not vice-versa and the brightness and color in her eyes is as real then as it is later, when he invades her world again and leaves without a backwards glance at the fairy-tale city turned real and the Popsicle princess on her faded couch throne.

---

**Storm – Olette, Donald**

There are few storms in Twilight Town, mostly at night. Olette is grateful for this, always taking time to stop and enjoy her quiet city, settling the fears that arose after a stormy night where she trembled and cringed under her warm safe bedcovers, covering her ears against the roaring outside.

But, one day, the unmistakable sound of thunder makes her flinch, tensing with the childhood fear that's never quite left her. And, even though she longs to run and hide, the confusing contrast of peaceful sky and thunder drives her forward and she goes, up the hill to the station.

And what she sees astounds her, because she knows it's magic. She knows, peering around a corner at the battling three – Sora, Donald, Goofy – that it's nothing less than that which equips the white duck, who is closest to her, with the power to raise that staff aloft, bellow (quack?) unintelligibly and call down thunder from an otherwise blank sky.

Olette gapes, envying and marveling, wondering suddenly with a confusing pang what it's like to control the things you fear, like thunder and lightning and storms _(and loss and grief and forgetting)_.

She wonders…but, of course, she doesn't ask.

---

**Death – Axel, Namine**

Namine's used to being lied to. She's learned to carefully examine what she's told, searching desperately for that hint of truth that has to be there, must be there, because if they're that far gone, what does that make her?

But no, she tells herself, projecting imaginary worlds onto sheet after sheet after sheet of blank paper, no, she's different. She can be whole again, someday, someday the sun will rise and the shadow will disappear (_no, you won't disappear! you'll be whole!_) and all that'll be left is the princess, the pretty, pretty princess on her perfect, perfect island with her two bright beautiful boys.

And she'll forget about the faded, failed men that surround her, weaving their lies around her inexistent heart, especially him, especially that specter of ash and fire who smiles cruelly, beautifully like the velvet-clad blade of a knife and captures her with his green, green eyes and tells her there's such a thing as death_death_**death **and even pretty, pretty blonde shadows can't escape it, because everything fades and everything fails and 'just what makes you think you're so special?'

Namine's used to being lied to, so she tries to make him into a liar.

---

**Fixed – Roxas, Aerith**

Aerith is a caretaker, a nurturer, a protector, a mother to everyone she sees and everyone she meets. You only need to watch her in her garden or kitchen, tending her flowers and making meals, an endless smile on her perfect, sweet, flawless face, humming a gentle tune, gliding across the floor on delicate bare feet, strands of hair falling into her luminous eyes, to realize THAT. Aerith is made to discover the problems, the wrongs, the imperfections and insecurities and _fix_ them.

And Roxas wishes to God she wasn't. Because he doesn't want this, the first taste of realness he's had in forever, the only thing almost like happiness that he's experienced since before he can remember, the one precious facet of his fleeting life that mirrors all the things he's ever longed for (feeling, happiness, contentment, love…) to be about her FIXING him.

"Don't fix me, Aerith." He tells her warningly, in a whisper, holding her at arms length. "Don't fix me," _but save me, want me, love me, please_ "because I am NOT broken."

And Aerith smiles. "I know" she says softly.

And even though he knows she _doesn't,_ she smiles and he can't keep her away.

---

**Days – Donald, Namine**

Namine unlinks the chains of memory like a child undoing a daisy chain (he loves me, he loves her not). For her, a day is just one in a hundred, to be unwoven, undone, untied and twisted to fit a purpose that no longer has anything to do with her.

And when she's done with Sora's, she moves onto those close to him, who have become names that blur together like some ritualistic chant (tidusselphiewakkaleonaerithcidyuffierikukai-) and smears of color on blank canvases. She just lets the names brush past her ears and the faces fly past her fingertips and she doesn't linger and she doesn't stop and Namine just doesn't care.

But when she comes to smudge that's blue and yellow and white, the part of the droning chant that has a belligerent air and a vaguely garbled voice, Namine lingers. She stops. And, even though she knows she shouldn't, she cares. She slowly unwinds that part of the story, the part belonging to a court magician whose life changed so quickly, and who may never reattain what he had (a home, a love, a life) before the day he pushed open a door and greeted an empty royal room.

It gives her comfort, which she desperately needs, to be reminded of all that can change in a day, even a day in a multitude of days. It gives her something like strength to see that your world can fall apart and you don't have to break into pieces. It gives her hope, something that's been unattainable for so long, as she weaves apart and back together the days belonging to an individual who doesn't seem to care that everything's disintegrating around him, because he knows that in the end he'll triumph.

It makes Namine almost believe she can too.

---

**Earth – Roxas, Axel**

_Ring around a rosy, pocket full of posy…_

Roxas has always reminded him of earth. Down to it, no-nonsense, focused on his goals, his pursuits, his dreams, flawed and warped as they may be. Axel thinks it's unfair, almost, that hair like sunshine and eyes that blue should belong to someone who always has both feet planted firmly on the ground, who never looks up to the sky he so clearly belongs in. Roxas is always looking down, Axel remembers, looking at the sky.

_Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…_

Axel has always reminded him of fire and ash. For obvious reasons, for the fact he toys with it, plays and teases it until it's inevitable that he'll get burned. Roxas thinks it's unfair that someone should be able to cheat destiny and death for so long, to dance around with flames licking at his feet and never be reduced to the ash that so clearly defines his being. Axel burns so bright he'll burn out someday, Roxas remembers, watching the fireplaces dancing flames.

_Ashes to ashes and dust to dust…_

In the end it works out for both of them, now doesn't it? Flame to ash, earth to sky.

---

**Touch – Roxas, Olette**

It had been an accident. Really. The ground was uneven on the way up to Station Hill or something, maybe an upside-down cobblestone, or an old soda can that some jerk dropped carelessly. At any rate, Roxas certainly didn't MEAN to trip over whatever (maybe it had just been his own feet) and stumble into Olette, automatically flinging his arms around her to keep from sprawling flat on his face. It had been an accident.

Really.

It had been a mistake. Honest. They just thought alike, or had the same tastes, or both liked the look of the weird white animal-thing with the pink nose and funny boingy pom-pom on its head. Anyways, Olette hadn't TRIED to brush her hand against Roxas's when they both reached for the stuffed creature, then blush and stumble backward, bumping into someone, then trip and land on top of her friend. It had been a mistake.

Honest.

It seemed there were a lot of these mistakes and accidents. Tripping, stumbling, falling asleep on each other's shoulders, sitting too close, stepping on feet, brushing fingertips, hands, arms, running into each other, kissing in the moonlit sandlot –

Oh, wait.

That last one had been on purpose.

---

**Healing – Donald, Tifa**

"You sure you don't want my help?"

Tifa stands, wavering slightly on knees that will give way any second, forcing her hands to stay still and not tremble as she brushes her long, dark, tangled hair out of her face (which is so pale, too pale and she knows it and she hopes no-one else will notice) and takes a deep breath. "No thanks. Aerith." She says slowly, deliberately, trying not to look at the concerned young brunette who hovers a few feet away. "I'm okay."

And she's lying. But she can't let Aerith – or anyone – know that she's become this weak, that the greatest marital artist in Hollow Bastion is on the verge of tears because she lost a fight. Tears of exhaustion, of confusion and disappointment and the bitterness of defeat.

Tifa makes it outside before she crumples to her knees, wondering, why, why, why can't she be good enough? She tries hard, so hard, so incredibly HARD…and it's not enough. Her long-fingered hands curl into tight fists, blood soaking her palms as she sobs once. It will NEVER be enough…

Blackness consumes her without consent or warning, unconsciousness masquerading as darkness and Tifa is certain she's succumbed to it at last –

Until she hears a sharply squawked (that's the only good word for it) 'CURAGA!' and senses the green magic spreading through her body, healing her wounds (physical at least) and bringing new strength to her exhausted limbs.

Tifa takes a slow deep breath and glances up to see Donald, standing a few feet away, arms crossed, giving her his usual glare, one orange-yellow foot tapping impatiently. When her garnet-colored eyes meet his, he scowls fiercly, then says in a warning tone, "Next time, just let Aerith heal you, okay?" Tifa's too stunned to reply, so she nods once, then again, a half-smile spreading across her face, removing some of the weariness etched there.

Donald almost smiles back. Then he 'hmphs' loudly and turns his back, almost stalking inside, clearly done with this conversation. And, as he goes, Tifa can just hear him mutter, "Ya big palooka…"

---

**Family – Namine, Roxas**

Some things are lost in a world of revenge and malice. Other's are given up, because it's too hard to keep a hold on them in a cycle of endless darkness. Still other's are forgotten about, because it's hard to place importance on things you have no feeling for. It's hard to remember light and life and love, when all you know now is the opposite.

Namine tries, at first. The hours blend into each other, with no beginning or end and she tries to break up the sameness of them by conversing with the other Nobody's. She reasons that by talking about the things they've lost – fading memories that diminish with every day – they'll keep them alive.

After a while, though, she gives up. The other's don't care for reminiscing, or recalling. And what is there to talk about in a castle with no windows or doors? The weather? Namine is not even permitted to inquire after the health of the others' family and friends, because they have none.

And she misses that. She has none of her own, but they appear in her drawings, figures of crayon and pencil and paint, people she'll never know. They belong to him, they're his friends, his family and she's forever forbidden from them. Namine lingers most on the drawings of his family, his mother, his father, even his aunts and uncles he only sees on holidays. She's almost jealous.

And Namine envies his Other, because when the time comes (and she knows it will, even as she listens to the automated voice chirping 'Restoration 35 complete') he'll have what she never will. He'll finally be whole and complete and he'll get everything that comes along with it, friends, a home…family.

And she'll have to settle for whatever fate holds for her.

---

**Passing – Goofy, Axel**

Life is passing him by, flying across the sky like lightning-colored fireflies, slipping like grains of diamond sand between his fingers and Axel couldn't care less.

Life doesn't hold anything for the Nobody, because he's Nobody, a Nobody, nothing, no-one, zip, zero, nada. So why should he care when another sunset comes and there's nothing about the dying day that makes it special? Why should he be concerned when, upon the rare occasions when he looks back and reflects, he finds nothing of value, nothing that will last, nothing that will make anybody remember him.

The only person he'd thought would remember him doesn't, didn't, won't, and Axel is sick and tired of trying to _make_ him see,_make_ him realize, _make_ him try and turn Axel into something special. He's through with trying to find something worth anything, that one moment, that one person, that one thing that gives everything a sense of realness, of value.

Axel doesn't want it anymore. He doesn't want to be meaningful. He doesn't want to be important. He doesn't want to be special, or valuable, or remembered. He wants to pass away, like everything does, without a word, without a word.

And, above all, Axel doesn't want to end up like some of the optimists he knows. Take the dog for example, the so-called knight with his drawling, obnoxious, nerve-grating voice and that stupid shield and that sunny, bright, ever-smiling view on life. Who wants to be like him? Who wants to turn even the most ordinary of days, the most menial of tasks, the simplest of acquaintances, into adventures, quests, life-long companions? Who wants every moment to be precious and special and valuable and not passing like dust in the wind? Who wants that?

Not Axel.

Or so he keeps telling himself.

---

**Birth – Namine, Aerith**

There's a kinship between them, between this slip of a girl-child in her palace of stone and this spring-eyed beauty with her valentines dresses. Though they'll never meet – save through violet eyes and on cream-colored paper sheets thumbtacked to the wall – they're still tied together.

Words like whispers slip through the birdlike blonde's mind as she draws scribbled figures in a town where lost people come to lose themselves further – Sephiroth, Cetra, Lifestream – and though she doesn't quite understand them, there's implications of something higher than her and there's respect in her fingertips as she shapes her face.

Feelings like nighttime shadows run across the willowy brunette's skin as she listens silently to the other speak, and slowly begins to comprehend what happened to her heart – fear, awe, even vague reverence – because what darkness can personify itself in the shimmering, lovely, achingly sad body of a young girl and still fool everyone?

Aerith and Namine both were destined for things greater (and more fallen) than any others. Every moment was planned out for them, by fate, by destiny, by the hands of others.

And yet, they somehow both found themselves ending up farther from their birth than they dreamed possible.

---

**Missing – Namine, Olette**

There's something wrong, something missing, something that's needed, something, something…

Olette sighs softly and gingerly massages her aching head with one hand, trying to drive away the headache that's been nearly constant for days and finish her homework. School's starting soon, and the four of them have to hurry or they'll never get it done.

_Three of you. There are three of you._

With another wince, Olette closes her bright green eyes and breathes slowly, deeply for a while, as if that will help. It does, a little, and she exhales softly and slowly returns to writing her paper on the seven wonders of Twilight Town. It's tedious work, considering all the marvels had proved false, but it had been sort of fun competing in teams of two to see who'd discover them all first.

_You didn't compete in teams of two. There are only three of you._

"Right." Olette says aloud to the gentle reminder somewhere in the back of her mind. But her pencil's stopped moving and she's staring instead at the picture of her and her three –

_Two_.

– two best friends, in front of that old haunted mansion. Hayner, Pence and her. They look so happy. Suddenly Olette frowns and slowly fingers the picture, wondering in a whisper, "Why did they change it? It looks so empty now…"

_It's not empty. There are three of you._

"But…"

_Three._

"Three." Olette repeats softly, waiting for the warmth that comes when she thinks about her friends and her. But there's nothing, except for that old aching sadness, and a sense of exhaustion. With an uneasy sigh, the girl slowly eases her head down to rest on her open books, closing her eyes and hoping this feeling will pass…

While, miles away, in a castle of white, another girl slowly puts the finishing touches on her latest drawing, a gated house with four children (where there are just three, in the picture on a young girls desk) in front of it. Four smudges of color, where there are only three now, brunette, dark-haired, sandy-colored and golden-blond.

Namine half-smiles as she makes Olette's hairband green, to match her eyes. "I know you miss him." She whispers to her drawing. "But he'll be okay. You'll be okay too." A smile is drawn, blissful and carefree. "You'll be okay. Thank you, Olette, for taking care of him…for as long as he was yours."

---

**Sixth Sense – Sora, Kairi**

He had so much he wanted to tell her –

_Kairi, I'm a hero! I'm the Keybearer, can you believe it?!…Kairi, there are these Heartless and they're taking over all the worlds and there are other worlds out there, by the way, just like we always thought there were, but I'll take care of it, I'll take care of everything, don't worry!…Kairi, I have these new friends, you'd really like them, I think!…Kairi, it's Riku. I don't understand, Kairi._

– show her –

_Kairi, look, I can fly! It just takes a little pixie dust, that's all. All this time we dreamed of flying and wished we could and that was all it took!…Kairi, check it out! I have a tail, just like the dolphins off the island! I can swim just like them!…Kairi, don't I look scary? I got this stuff in Halloweentown! It's so cool!…Kairi, I know I can save you. Just watch me._

– share with her –

_Kairi, there are so many other people out there…Kairi, there are so many other worlds…Kairi, there are so many things we've never seen…Kairi, it's all so amazing and I miss you._

That he was almost disappointed when he found out she'd been there all the time, that sixth sense deep inside his heart, laughing and crying when he did, seeing and hearing and being a part of everything he went though, always there with him no matter what.

Sora was almost disappointed…but not quite.

"_Don't ever forget. Where-ever you go – I'm always with you."_

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So...yeah! Those are the first fifteen, the other fifteen will be forthcoming soon. (including Sofa. -drools- Gads I have a hankering for somma that!!! I'm not an addict, why do you ask? -goes to try and find some non-slutty Sora/Tifa...-)

Read/review/go punch some numbers.


	2. Chapter 2

HERE. FOR FINALLY.

-dies from NaNoWriMo- Only 6000 more words:D

ANY-ways, hope you enjoy. :3

Disclaimer: Still own naught, unfortunately.

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**Joker – Tifa, Sora**

In a world where life is a gamble, Tifa sees Aerith as the Queen of Hearts in a deck of cards. No matter how many ways you shuffle it, she always ends up on top, with the better end of the bargain, with everything she's ever wanted, always with that serene, perfect little smile and that calm, flawless little voice.

And Tifa feels like the Queen of Spades, the worst card you can get in this game of Hearts (there's a Kingdom and there's endless talk about it and even what little light she can offer isn't enough to combat the darkness raging all around it and she's so unused to not being able to fight that she feels paralyzed, like a puppet with her strings cut) and the one that's always turned up when you least want it.

She looked everywhere for him. She searched as hard as she could, boldly going anywhere, everywhere, overcoming everything in her path, because she needed to find him, had to find him, please, Cloud, take my light, take me, take everything, please!

If you look hard enough, you're sure to find your man. Who did she tell _that_ lie to?

Oh, right. That kid. Sora whatshisname. Tifa isn't entirely sure she got a last name from the boy. Come to think of it, she didn't even give him her name. She was so single-minded in her quest that he was just an incidental. At least, at that point.

But now…

In a deck of cards, where does he fall? Prince of Hearts, maybe. A hero devoted mind and body and soul to saving the multiverse by whatever means possible. The Keybearer, a noble and dignified –

No, that's not right. It only takes one look at that boy's goofy grin and cocky little attitude to see that. Oh, but he can make her laugh, laugh so hard her sides ache worse than they do after a long battle, until her face hurts from smiling and she's begging him to stop because in another moment she'll be rolling on the floor, howling.

No, Tifa decides, Sora's more like the Joker. He's definitely added a little more color, a little more light to her life.

And, if he can do all that while being the one card that isn't even in the deck…

…maybe the Queen of Spades can try just a little bit harder.

---

**Birthday – Sora, Olette**

She doesn't know why she's so upset. After all, so far it's been a great birthday! One of the best Olette's ever had, in fact. Her parents woke her up with breakfast in bed and tickets to the seaside for her friends and her that afternoon, her annoying little sister was almost cute when she presented her hand-made (as in, store-bought with stickers all over it) coffee mug (even though Olette detests the stuff and won't go near it), Pence presented her with a collage of summertime pictures and even Hayner treated her to ice cream with a vague mumbled birthday wish.

So why does Olette feel so sulky and depressed, and why is she so irritated at that one boy, who'd appeared in town once, inexplicably, and left almost as soon, that weird kid with the weird key, that Sora who she hardly even knows – because he forgot her birthday?

"Uh, here."

Olette's pouty thoughts are interrupted and she glances up from where she's been sitting on the steps of the station and frowns briefly at the brunette boy standing above her, holding out something messily wrapped in what looks like old comic books and duct tape. "What is it?" she asks, not even bothering to ask how Sora even got there.

"Just open it." is his only reply.

And Olette does, even though the crude wrapping does little to obscure the shape of the palm-sized conch shell, and she gasps softly in surprise as she gently fingers the smooth pink inside and white outside of the object, even though she must have about seventeen other shells at home from the seaside. "Thank you." she says softly, raising the shell to her ear and listening.

His sheepish 'you're welcome' drowns out the almost-music she hears (like a chorus singing, something repetitive and simple, like a music box tune, about swimming some way), making her smile up at him, backlit by the sun, the perpetual twilight turning his brown hair gold and lighting his blue eyes in a way that makes her strangely giddy.

She should've known he'd never forget.

---

**Broken – Donald, Sora**

He sure does bounce back quickly. Trial and difficulty seem to have no affect on him. He hasn't been home in two years? He'll get there someday. He spends his time running around, fighting enemies that hadn't even populated his darkest nightmares before, without a rest? All part of the job. His two best friends are far away, in another world and in darkness? He'll find them.

Failure isn't an option for Sora. He's unflappable, unstoppable, unbeatable.

But not unbreakable. Donald knows. He's seen that annoyingly optimistic, ever-smiling, ever-confident hero of the worlds bend and break before his eyes, be left alone and friendless on a world far from home with a wooden sword and a wounded beast between him and everything else.

And Donald's had to deal with the fact that it was _his_ fault.

If he has his way they'll never, ever, ever have to face that again.

---

**Choices – Kairi, Donald**

"I never asked to be a princess."

Donald winced slightly, hoping the young red-haired girl sitting next to him didn't notice. When he'd volunteered to pilot the gummi ship back to Traverse Town from Hollow Bastion, he hadn't bargained on his co-pilot unburdening her soul to him in the midst of the flight.

Truth be told, Donald had hoped Kairi would've been so involved in exclaiming over the controls and the sight of the worlds, laid before her like a canvas, to even realize he existed. After all, Sora had been flying this thing for ages, and he still almost had a coronary every time they went into warp drive.

No such luck with the girl, though. Donald had forgotten how much more sedate females were.

"Oh yeah?" he said in a noncommittal tone, absently adjusting a few of the ship's defense mechanisms, for a smoother ride. Sora and Goofy were passed out in various positions in the other seats, and the duck was certain that, no matter how much fun it might be, he'd get a lecture from Kairi if he barrel-rolled and woke them up.

"Yeah…I mean, I know every little girl wants to be a princess…but who, in their right mind, would really choose that kinda responsibility?" Kairi's voice was soft and sad and melancholy, and a glance at her showed her arms crossed over her knees, an almost dark look in her violet-blue eyes.

And, in spite of himself, Donald turned from the dashboard and, sighing heavily, said, "Sometimes you don't get a choice." The girl frowned slightly and glanced up at him, silently pleading for more explanation.

Mentally kicking himself for prolonging this little heart-to-heart, Donald sighed, switched the ship onto autopilot and tried to explain as shortly and simply as he could. "Look. Sometimes things happen and you can't do anything about them. I didn't chose to go on this big crazy adventure thing with them." Here he jerked one thumb at the vaguely snoring/drooling dog and boy sleeping behind them. "But, here I am."

"How do you accept it?" Kairi asked softly. "How do you go on, knowing that you have all this…weight on your shoulders? How do you just…live like normal, when so many people are depending on you?"

Donald thought for a moment. "I just do." he said finally, with a shrug. "Sorry, can't explain more than that." His tone was almost brisk as he turned back to the controls and hoped she wouldn't notice.

But Kairi thought this over for a moment, then gently smiled. "Thank-you." she said softly.

Glancing at her in vague confusion, Donald blinked once or twice. Then he muttered darkly, "Aw, phooey." And returned to piloting.

---

**Life – Aerith, Tifa**

Tifa wonders why Aerith doesn't. Wonder, that is. How can she remain so content, so peaceful, so…serene all the time? The dark-haired young woman is certain hers isn't the only memory with holes in it, left by some mysterious source that abandoned her in Hollow Bastion with nothing but an aching desire to find him, find Cloud.

But, when questioned, all the flower girl will say is that she grew up in Radiant Gardens, that she's never known anything else, that Leon, Yuffie, Cid have been her companions forever. But Tifa is certain she sees something in those apparently carefree emerald eyes, a hint of doubt and worry that echoes in Tifa's heart whenever she awakens from those wretched dreams. Why won't Aerith admit it? Why won't she just confess that there's something amiss here, something WRONG?

So, as is her tendency, Tifa abandons subtleness and tact and flat-out confronts the other young woman, cornering her in the depths of the castle, hands on her hips, demanding if she's lying about never knowing anything other than Hollow Bastion. "There's something else, isn't there?" Tifa demands, dark red eyes flashing. "There's something other than all this and you know it! You feel it, Aerith! You must!"

"This is my life now, Tifa." The flower girl says softly, even though there's anxiety, nervousness, even fear etched in every line of her face.

"But, Aerith-" Tifa tries to press, wanting to know if they're the same, wondering if maybe her weaknesses are the same as this earth-angel's.

"_This_is my life now. Tifa." Aerith whispers again, something in her face begging the other girl not to push it anymore.

And Tifa doesn't, stepping aside and letting her pass. But as she goes, the martial artist whisper, "But it wasn't always. Was it, Aerith?"

---

**Sight – Kairi, Namine**

Though her existence has been so short, Namine is almost certain she's seen almost everything. She's seen memories and time fall apart with a crayon stroke, countries and worlds fall under the threat of villains drawn from fairy-tale book pages, ducks and dogs and mice battling alongside heroes (children, barely old enough to realize that the world isn't perfect and dreams don't always work out like they've planned) with bright blue eyes that echo in her memory forever after. Namine is almost certain there's nothing left for her to see…

…but she's proved wrong, once again, when she finally, finally meets her, feels a hand almost like her own gripping her fingers in a tentative, iron grip, hears a voice that could've been hers slowly accepting an invitation and sees, for the first time, the sight of a heart that could (should, will) be hers, in Kairi's achingly familiar eyes.

Kairi's nothing more than a child herself, innocent on her paradise island, dancing through life on tippy-toe, the little ballerina, the pretty princess, 'mommy watch me!' in her life-sized sandbox. Yet she carries the memories of a lifetime of travel, in her heart, if not in her mind, and even though it's been so long, almost too long (starts with an S?) she can still feel the jungle air, taste the salt water, smell the marketplace, hear the voices of an endless array of characters and almost see the bright fabled worlds before her eyes. Kairi's almost certain that nothing would or could surprise her…

…but she's proved wrong, when she meets her, when her heart speaks to her once again and informs her in no uncertain terms that this white-clad, golden-haired ghostlike girl in her portal of darkness, reaching out her hand, beckoning, welcoming, is important, she's special and for real and there's something about her and the sight of Namine's familiar blue eyes is surprising.

Even though it's almost the last time they see one another, one saving, the other taking a chance, the sight is one of the most welcome, new, surprising, wonderful things…ever.

_C'mon, hurry!_

_W-what?_

_--- _

**Years – Sora, Roxas**

It's almost like a photo album, stored away in a secret private corner of his mind, to be taken out and flipped through at whim. Sora has hardly enough time to spend on such activities (being a normal teenager in normal high-school, is somehow a lot more time-consuming and, yes, even difficult than saving the multiverse, for some reason) but whenever he can, he plays the slideshow of sensation and images through his mind.

The year with the Organization is fuzzy, more a series of black coats and weapons and a menagerie of characters too vivid to be heartless than anything concrete. Sora wonders sometimes why this time, Roxas's 'real life' is so much vaguer than his time in Twilight Town.

The synthetic world with it's make-believe memories and life and friends is so bright and colorful and real that it's like watching a movie, or living it. Sora wonders about this, then decides it's probably because Roxas had unreal feelings to go along with his unreal world.

But still, those six days are so much bigger and brighter than the year of realness…Sora doesn't understand it, and doesn't try to. Some secrets of the heart are best left unexplored.

---

**Children – Axel, Sora**

He KNOWS they're the same person, all right? Axel knows full well that somewhere inside that spiky-haired, peculiarly dressed (nobody needs that many belts, no pun intended) boy there's still something left of the blond one he used to know. There's even something in the brunette's movements and air that echoes with familiar clarity.

Yet…there's still something…amiss, when Axel looks at Sora, when he hears him speak, when he's confronted with that irritated, impatient almost-pout and those glaring blue eyes (at least those haven't changed).

Maybe it's just that the kid is just that – a kid! He's vaguely immature, he thinks of things in black and white, bad and good, right and wrong. There's no middle ground for Sora. There's no deliberation. He just does what he has to do, and forget about the consequences.

Roxas was never like that. Roxas was down-to-earth. Roxas was deliberate. Roxas was thoughtful and calculating. Roxas was mature and thoughtful.

Roxas wasn't…a _child_. In age, in appearance, but never in nature.

And that's why, even as he gives what life he has left for him, Axel knows that the way Sora makes him feel will never be the same as the way Roxas did.

---

**Colorless – Kairi, Aerith**

Kairi flatters herself slightly with the thought that she and Aerith are somewhat alike. While she sits at the scarred oak table at Merlin's House, sipping endless cups of lemonade and tea and cocoa and water, until she feels like she's going to drown, that the young redhead carefully pinpoints and examines the similarities between her and the young woman in her frilly lace-and-silk gowns, pouring drinks and catering to each and every need.

All right, so the way they're alike is not exactly easy to see at first glance. But it's there!

True, Aerith is beautiful and elegant and graceful and angelic, while Kairi's in that well-known teenage stage where she feels like she doesn't fit into her skin anymore, where she feels gawky and awkward, shy and inept, especially around boys. Especially around Sora.

Yes, Aerith's different in that sense too. She's playful and almost teasing around Cloud, smooth and just a touch witty, covering up any seemingly biting words with a flawless smile. Kairi feels like she'll never be able to tell Sora how she truly feels without coming across as stupid and/or rude. Aerith knows what to say in every situation. Aerith is…perfect.

Actually, now that Kairi's going to be honest, she and Aerith only resemble each other in one way: they're both waiting. Waiting for their heroes to return from where-ever, waiting for the wars and battles and quests and missions to be over, waiting, waiting, waiting, sustained only on a promise and a wish. And, as she sips at her tea, the girl watches the young woman and she can almost see her fading, growing colorless and wan, because nobody can live on just memories and forgotten promises alone.

And all Kairi does is hope she and Aerith aren't similar in this way too.

---

**Sound – Olette, Tifa**

_It started with a sound._

The sound of a trash can being knocked over in a back alley, startling the girl from her deep slumber, because it had to be something especially large and perhaps threatening to make a noise like that.

The sound of a window being shoved open and a slightly trembling voice calling out a not-at-all threatening, 'W-who's there?'

The sound of another voice replying sheepishly that they'd been following someone down through the alley and they hadn't seen the can, sorry for bothering you, I'll leave now.

The sound of a young girl climbing out the window and hurrying after the young woman, all in black, who was slinking along the alley into the night, grabbing her arm and offering her something warm to drink.

It continued with a sound. 

The sound of a tea kettle whistling for a cheery moment before being quickly silenced, so her parents didn't wake up.

The sound of chairs skidding faintly on the kitchen floor as the two females sat down with their drinks.

The sound of expectant silence, finally being broken by the sound of a story that was both romantic and heartbreaking, captivating and sad.

The sound of a solemn promise, 'I'll find him, no matter what it takes. No matter where I have to go or what I have to do, I'll find him."

**It ended with a sound.**

The sound of the last bit of tea being drained from a ceramic mug shaped like a turtle.

The sound of a mumbled thanks, responded to by a cheerful, if a bit tired 'you're welcome' and a tentative offer to come back again sometime.

The sound of an amused sigh that could've been an agreement or a 'fat chance' but which wasn't precisely defined.

The sound of two good-byes, from two very different girls as one walked purposefully down the alley and towards whatever fate held for her and the other waved farewell, silhouetted by a single lamp.

The sound of a door closing.

And, though Olette doesn't ever mention it, she sometimes wonders if the strange dark-haired young woman ever found who she was looking for. She really hopes she did. She even daydreams about their reunion, sure it was all Tifa had hoped for.

And, at night she still strains her ears for the sound of a trash can being knocked over in her back alley.

---

**Not Enough – Sora, Namine**

Namine never regrets what she does. She didn't feel sad or upset about destroying Sora's memories, or taking his life apart and deceiving him. She didn't feel angry when she watched the other members of the castle toy with him and mess with his mind, then turn around and command her to do likewise. She didn't even feel wistfulness and loneliness when he gave her that sweet crooked smile she knew so well and sealed himself away under her care.

At least, that's what she claims.

Of course, when questioned, Namine denies everything. No, she doesn't care, no she isn't protective, no she doesn't miss him. And, above all, Namine will deny to her dying day that she feels agony and heart-wrenching (but she HAS none, so what is this pain that spreads to her fingertips and toes and threatens to consume her?) jealousy and envy that, even though she had the chance to make him hers, that she still wasn't what Sora wanted, wasn't what he needed, wasn't her, wasn't Kairi. Namine will never allow anyone to see the truth (because she isn't lying, no, she's not) –

That her only regret is that she was not enough for him.

---

**Parents – Tifa, Kairi**

"Hey."

The voice is soft and almost gentle, but Kairi still jumps, clutching tighter to the bouquet of red and yellow and blue flowers that she's protected all the long way to the outskirts of town, her shoulders tensing in surprise as she whirls around and meets a pair of dark red eyes. Kairi doesn't answer, just turns back to face the white stone at her feet.

Tifa sighs and brushes her midnight-colored bangs out of her face, wondering how to respond as the younger girl slowly kneels down and sets a single crimson blossom on the stone. "Uh, Leon said I might find you here." The martial artist offers lamely, brow furrowing as Kairi doesn't respond, rather stands and moves onto the next white stone, a few feet away. "And Aerith told me you asked her for an awful lot of flowers, so…"

Trailing off, Tifa bites her lower lip and frowns as the small redhead kneels in front of this stone as well, this time laying a butter-colored flower on it. "What's up?" the young woman asks finally.

Kairi waits until she's graced the next stone with a flower the color of the sky above them to answer. "Leon said they buried all those who fell to the Heartless here." Her voice is dull and flat, but she swallows hard as she continues along the row of stones, kneeling and setting flowers in a pattern, red, yellow, blue, red, yellow, blue. "I figured my parents were among them. Only…"

Here she pauses at the end of the first row, trembling hands clutching the yellow flower in her hand. "Only all the graves were unmarked…because there was no-one…to…identify the bodies." Silence reigns for a moment, until Kairi clears her throat and continues. "So, since I don't know where they are…"

Trailing off and glancing up at the endless stones which stretch over the hill and out of sight, Kairi sits back on her heels and whispers, "I'll visit them all."

The tears are silent, but Tifa sees them anyway, as she slowly kneels down next to the girl and examines the field. "Well." She says matter-of-factly. "You may need more flowers."

Kairi half-laughs, half-sobs, then leans against the older girls shoulder, closing her violet-blue eyes tightly. Tifa gives the grieving young girl a sideways hug, and they sit in silence for a moment, looking out over the endless graveyard.

---

**Teammates – Aerith, Axel**

Organization XIII. The very name seems to echo with ominous foreboding and darkness, dripping off it like midnight ink and staining the air whenever it's spoken. The cold notion of an organization devoted to such a dark goal, the unlucky number thirteen, the numerals, a series of crossed and straight lines that lend a detached air to the entire thing and, of course, the icy pause that hangs in the air whenever it's said, bringing chills to everyone who hears it. Yes, Axel decides after dwelling on the name for a while, Organization XIII is a suitably villainous bad guy name.

The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, on the other hand, sounds like a hastily configured high school after-class club, made up by some well-meaning teacher to keep those kids not talented or approved for other activities occupied. 'Yes, you, you can be the secretary for the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee! I hope you have a marvelous time recording the minutes as you all decide what type of garbage bags would be best for holding the soda cans and candy wrappers you pick up to help restore Hollow Bastion! Yes, don't get killed, please, or we'll lose our funding.'

Seriously. They couldn't think of anything better than that? Axel's a bit of a sarcastic individual by nature, and when he's given bait like that, it's almost impossible to resist tossing a few well-worded barbs at such a cheerfully-named…thing. He can't call it an organization, because it's not nearly that professional. A group? A gang? A posse?

A team?

Team seems to strike closest to the essence of those four people (that big tall stony-scar-faced fellow, that guy with the toothpick and the perpetual hunch, the annoying scantily-clad little ninja and…the flower girl). They're certainly teammates, with Leon as the team captain, Cid as the coach, Yuffie as the quarterback, goalie, defense, offense and cheerleader wrapped up in one.

And Aerith? Aerith's the one who makes the lunches and the lemonade to send off with her troops, her teammates, her family, who encourages and cheers for them, waving farewell from her little home base, always staying behind, safe, her warmth always there to brighten their days and keep them going.

And it's only while watching her, while seeing how she is with the other members of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, that Axel realizes just how cold he feels in Organization XIII.

---

**Food – Goofy, Namine**

Namine's no scientist or biologist, nor does she claim to be, but she knows this for certain – it's impossible for a duck, a dog and a growing teenage boy to flit about from world to world, place to place without a single bit of food.

As she sits in her little chair that is still so tall her feet can hardly skim the floor, unchaining the memories and examining them like a jewel looking over some choice diamonds, Namine is surprised to find very few instances of Sora, Donald and Goofy ever eating anything! She decides to look a bit harder, certain it's there somewhere.

Maybe Sora actually ate all those mushrooms and coconuts back on the island, or maybe Donald loaded up on tea cakes in Wonderland (in which case she's rather surprised he didn't explode or shrink or anything odd like that) or…something. Yes, that's probably it.

As for Goofy?

Well, Namine's already almost certain he's a mutant.

Now that she stops to consider it, why can Goofy can walk about and speak like a human – and Pluto can't?

It's around this point in her train of thought that the girl decides to stop analyzing things so much.

---

**Too Much – Axel, Tifa**

For a while Axel toyed with the idea that he liked the girl. After all, she was gorgeous, tall and curvy and dark-haired and she had those large eyes that were ruby-red, like blood, like fire, like his hair. She was no wimp either, taking out Heartless like it was nothing. But she still had a note of femininity about her, with those delicate teardrop earrings. She was single-minded in her goal of finding that scarecrow-haired guy, which meant she was driven and determined. But she was female, which in his mind meant her heart could be broken quite easily, whether by him or someone else. And she had that deliberate, definite cool about her, like an ice sculpture. Axel was actually quite pleased by the idea of being the teasing flame melted her away.

But there was one problem with Tifa Lockhart – that light of hers, that flashed like a shooting star, that shone like a million suns through her eyes and her face and her voice as she called for that one that Axel definitely wasn't.

Though he told himself otherwise, Axel dropped the idea of Tifa because of one thing – she would've been too much for him.

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Now I think I want more fics with Tifa and Olette interactions. XD

Read/Review/Punch sommore numbahs. :D


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